Kunqu’ s Dream, as well as The Chinese Culture’ s Dream

Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe

Established in 1978, the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe (SKOT) is a key protected national Kunqu institution, which is currently led by Ms. Gu Haohao. With Kunqu Maestro Yu Zhenfei as its first president, SKOT possesses a group of outstanding artists among which 15 of them are national/ provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage inheritors, while 9 of them has attained the China highest theatrical award, the Plum Blossom Prize, on top of which 2 are the awardees of Chinese Government Cultural Award. The troupe has also constantly demonstrated its brilliance in various national theatrical competitions, for instance, the China Art Festival, the Shanghai Magnolia Drama contest and the China Kunqu Festival, etc. The accomplishment of Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe has further been recognized by the Ministry of Culture, which claims that SKOT is “a first class theatrical institution with first class of actors, repertoires and performances.”

Four Dreams

For every Kunqu performer, Four Dreams in The Camellia Hall(Linchuan Si Meng) can be his or her lifelong dream. The four outstanding works, accomplished by oriental master playwright Mr. Tang Xianzu, became benchmarking works on drama stage given its elegant culture value and deep philosophical thoughts. Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe is blessed with the four masterpieces that have been passed on from generation to generation through four hundred years in order to keep its nature. The four masterworks are also Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe’s representative works. This is not only the lucky presented by the God but also the reasonable result for the long history. This year coincides with the 400th anniversary of the death of Master Tang Xianzu so Four Dreams in The Camellia Hall can be represented to people with the whole picture. The sages’ talent will definitely inspire the later generations to have a stronger sense of national pride and also write a more beautiful chapter of the Chinese Dream.

Four Dreams in The Camellia Hall includes four dramas, named The Peony Pavilion, The Purple Hairpins, The Tale of Handan and The Dream of Southern Bough.

Program: The Purple Hairpins - Purple Hairpin Symbolizes Loyalty to Love

LI Yi, a talented scholar of the Tang Dynasty, encounters beautiful Ms. HUO Xiaoyu during the lantern festival one night. Their love affair begins when Ms. HUO drops her purple hairpin, which is a pledge of LI Yi's devotion. Coincidentally, the powerful Grand Marshal Mr. LU wants LI Yi marry his daughter. LI Yi is sent away to guard the frontier as punishment for his refusal. Hearing no news of her husband, Ms. Huo falls ill and is plunged into poverty. Eventually, a 'Swordsman in Yellow' appears and does justice to help reunite the couple against all odds.

A Pair of Purple Hairpins is Mr. Tang Xianzu’s early work, as well as the most euphuistical passage in terms of Chinese words among Four Dreams in The Camellia Hall. Zheliu Yangguan, which means breaking off a willow branch gently to say farewell in the place named “Yangguan”, is the only reserved episode in A Pair of Purple Hairpins in Kunqu stage. This time, while rewriting and adapting the script, the authors reserved the gems in the original work especially by referring to the lyric notes which originate from Theatrical Music from Nashuying Studio written by Mr. Ye Tang who was a Kunqu composer in Qing Dynasty as the main Kunqu Opera aria.

Program: The Peony Pavilion - Spring Scenery Always Reminds of Wonderful Feeling

In the early South Song Dynasty, the daughter of local governor, DU Liniang, is dreaming with a scholar tryst in the back garden by the Peony Pavilion. She could not forget her dream and soon passed away. Three years later, Liu Mengmei, a scholar in South China, travelled to study in Nanan. He went into the back garden and picked up a picture by chance. The beauty in the picture seemed familiar to him. He called the beauty repeatedly with his infatuation. Later, DU Liniang came back to life and they two had a happy marriage at last.

Program: The Tale of Handan - A Vanished Dream Disabuses All

LU Sheng, the protagonist, is a down-and-out scholar who meets with LV Dongbin, an immortal on a mission to convert a man into the world of the ever living, at a small inn in the city of Handan. Upon hearing LU Sheng's complaint about his wretched life, LV Dongbin lends him a porcelain pillow to sleep on. In his dream, LU Sheng experience 50 years of vicissitudes of life as a high official, only to wake up to the stark reality that the yellow millet the innkeeper has been cooking for him is not yet done.

Program: The Dream of Southern Bough - A Magic Dream World was Over

Chunyu Fen, a successful and rich officer is dismissed after offending his general under the effects of the wine. As he remains daily drunk, one day, he fell asleep dazzledly, Chunyu Fen met with two atomies who took him into the giant hole in the tree, to have a ride to the great Kingdom of Pagoda. He was recruited for the bridegroom of the princess in the kingdom. Then he served as Nanke Prefecture and achieved outstanding results. After the death of the princess, he was even promoted as the vice prime minister of the kingdom. At that time he occupied the great power and behaved in disorder manner without any fear. Finally he was expelled for punishment. Everything was only a dream when he woke up. He followed the Buddhism as his religion.